The Ashes of Alterus
by MalagBaal
Summary: Sequel to "The Scourge of Alterus", but stands alone too. With the Ori building a new fleet in our galaxy, and Ba'al in possession of Alterus, what are SG-1 to do? Team Fic, SGA crossover. Set between SG-1 episodes 10.3 and 10.5. R&R.
1. Construction

_Disclaimer & A/N: I don't own the Stargate universe - don't sue me. This story is set after my other story, "The Scourge of Alterus", which is some time between episodes 10.3 and 10.5. _

_Sorta beta-read by Jenwryn._

**

* * *

**

Construction 

Poised on the surface planet of P4J-354 like some sort of giant water droplet was an Ori warship. It was suspended not in orbit, as you would expect, but merely balancing in a delicate network of plank-like metal poles – much like an ancient ship from medieval times balanced in dry docks. Thousands of human believers milled around it, following the plans and using the tools and parts the Prior had brought with him through the Pool of the Gods, or the Chappai'ai as the Jaffa had called it. The Acronians, the inhabitants of this planet, had for a while attempted to resist the teachings of Origen, but resistance had faltered now, at least on the surface. The Jaffa who had guarded the planet under the reign of Lord Ba'al had been all but defeated – rather than retreat and fight the enemy, guerrilla style, the Jaffa had, as always, decided that no enemy was too great, and charged straight at them. Of course, this bravery (or perhaps stupidity) had been dealt with very quickly. The Jaffa were herded towards one point, and the Ori Warship which had brought the invaders had destroyed all but a few stragglers in a single shot.

The few stragglers survived; one of these survivors was Bra'tac. He had been on the surface with a small band of Free Jaffa, scouting the planet to determine the loyalty of the Jaffa there to their Lord Ba'al. They had shown themselves more than loyal, as their mad rush against the Ori, with faith in their own god had proven. A waste of life – but now what had to be done was escaping. They had come through the stargate as Jaffa of Aphophas turned to the army of Ba'al. But that disguise would no longer work – not with Ori control of the gate. Bra'tac looked around at the small group of Free Jaffa with him – seven other men in total.

"Well my friends," he said "what shall we do?"

"We must fight our way to the Chappai'ai, and escape," exclaimed Kavec loudly. "That is all there is to be done."

"But that is madness," said another Jaffa. "You saw with your own eyes the devastation left by the Ori. We must bide our time and wait for the Council to sent a cargo ship for us."

Bra'tac seemed to think for a moment before responding. "Indeed, we must wait. We will not be able to force our way to the gate, no matter how bravely we die." He wondered once again why he was even here. Despite his differences with the new Jaffa council they had called on him to accompany this mission due to his knowledge of the area. During his time as First Prime to Aphophas he had fought against the Jaffa of Ba'al here on several occasions.

Kavec stomped out of the group and turned to face them. "Who will come with me?"

Bra'tac watched as three of the remaining Jaffa went to join him. He sighed and asked, "Do you truly wish to rush to your deaths? It would be pointless – it will prove nothing."

"Just because you have grown soft working with the Tau'ri and Teal'c does not mean all Jaffa must lose their honour and pride," snarled Kavec. "We go now to victory, or to death, but we will not sit here and rot. You know as well as I do that the council will not—"

"Even if the council do not send rescue, the Tau'ri will,' broke in Bra'tac. 'Teal'c will find out where we are and send one of their battleships…"

"Perhaps they will – more likely they won't – but even if they do they will not get through to us here. _We_ have little chance of defeating the Ori warriors – _they_ have even less chance of defeating an Ori warship…"

Kavec didn't look at him, but turned his head slightly and spoke now to the rest of the men who still stood with Bra'tac. "Whoever wills can still come and fight rather than wait here to die if they wish."

No-one moved and then the Jaffa with Kavec faded away into the forest (as well as men wearing two-tonne shiny, silver suits of armour can fade) until they were left alone.

* * *

The Prior stood beside the marvel of the Ori that the people of this planet were creating. The almost complete Ori warship was only one of many that were to be constructed. In fact, production was well ahead of the best the Orici had predicted. In fact, such was his progress that the Orici would be arriving soon, to be present at the completion of the first new Ori Warship. Of course, this was only one of many planets where Warships were almost complete. The Ori had willed the construction of ships in the Galaxy as the unbelievers against all odds had found a way to block their supergates. However, the construction of the new fleet had as of yet not been detected. Soon, they would once again have a fleet – perhaps stronger than before. Somehow the three ships that the Ori had had left in the galaxy had been destroyed or captured – it was unsure even among the Priors what had occurred, but rumour had spread that it had been the doing of the Goa'uld Ba'al. 


	2. Revelations

**Revelations **

The city of Atlantis shimmered in the cold morning light. The sun rose. The city's population began to scurry along the corridors like ants through their tunnels. Midday came and went. The bug substance McKay had brought back with him from Alterus still had him beaten. So far he hadn't even really been able to identify its chemical makeup, let alone work out a method of recreating it. Zelenka had offered to help, but had been snapped at for his efforts and wasn't really interested in helping any further. Currently the Canadian was lying facedown, practically in a sample, his head on his arms, fast asleep. Even coffee only works until a certain point, then you just black out…

Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard walked into the room and slammed a pile of paperwork down onto the table. McKay jumped up, nearly falling out of his chair, and just about sending his laptop flying.

"What was _that_ for?" demanded McKay in his grumpiest irritated-and-sleepy voice.

"Oh, sorry Rodney," said Sheppard calmly. "Didn't see you there…"

McKay glared at him. McKay had perfected his glare many years ago, with lots of in the field practise, and perhaps the aid of a mirror.

"You know, Rodney, if you slept in a bed like a _normal_ human being you might not get woken up all the time…" Sheppard paused with a slight smirk and then continued breezily, "I told you to get some _proper_ sleep – you know, we've got recon to be doing today. Great stuff."

"Oh, sure," replied McKay sarcastically, straightening his laptop brusquely. "Exciting. Another important recon to another dead lab in another dead hall in another dead section of the city. Talk about job satisfaction. We've searched this place top to bottom a dozen times and somehow I doubt another recon's going to help."

However, despite this, within half an hour he'd struggled out of his lab, downed yet another coffee and headed off in the very general direction of the section of the city they were to be working in, nearly falling over twice. He met the others, and they entered the section of the city. It was one of the few sections remaining that had been flooded and which still hadn't been explored properly since the ZPM was installed.

Anyway, as unlikely as McKay seemed to think it was, something could still turn up…

As a door grated open in front of them Sheppard glanced at the damage it had taken – once again, much the same stuff as they'd seen before. Nothing too drastic, but the lights were mostly out, except for the small yellow crystals studded up and down the columns in the room. The darkness faded back before their torches, the shadows scattering before the narrow beams sweeping across the passage. As they entered into the lab McKay was arguing with Sheppard about the intellectual level required for the game of golf.

No-one heard the scratching noise, like tiny claws scratching over metalwork….

There was something new in the passageway though. Teyla swung her torch towards the odd shape lying on the ground of the passageway. She gasped slightly in surprise.

"Oh – dead guy," said Sheppard rather stupidly.

* * *

"One of the damn oddest cases I've ever seen, and since I've been here I've seen quite a lot," commented Carson Beckett slowly. Weir listened as he told her, a concerned look on her face as she tapped a pen against her desk. A biologist named Alfred Conner had vanished the day before. When Sheppard and his team had stumbled – quite disturbingly _literally_ – on him, there had been almost nothing left, all that remained were a few fragments of clothing and a practically bare skeleton.

"It's like he's been gnawed by thousands of tiny teeth all over." Carson shook his head once. "If I know what I'm looking at, some nasty little bugger's running around the city right now." He shivered, and continued "I've got a couple more tests to run, so if that's all…"

Weir put the pen down and waved her hand. "Yes, go on, Carson," she said. "Thank you."

She sat back heavily in her chair and looked around the office. The pile of paperwork on the desk never quite seemed to vanish… oh well. She turned to Sheppard, who'd been hovering over her shoulder for the past fifteen minutes.

"Can we run a scan of the area?" she asked.

He shook his head, but as he went to answer McKay butted in, "The sensors in the area don't work – just like the lights."

"_Thank _you, Rodney," drawls Sheppard. "I was just about to say that…"

"Yes well, say it more quickly next time," snapped McKay.

"Gentlemen…" said Weir the faintest hint of a warning in her tone. Not that she didn't find them amusing at the best of times, but now was not the best of times, and it was merely somewhat irritating.

They both stopped arguing and Sheppard continued, "No sensors, right…" He looked at McKay, daring him to butt in "…so we'll have to search it on foot. And _yes_, Rodney, you're coming," finished Sheppard, just as McKay raised a hand to say the opposite.

* * *

The seventh chevron of the Cheyenne stargate locked. Red lights flashed around the control room and an alarm blared.

"Receiving IDC, sir," said Walter. "It's SG-1."

"Let them through!" replied Landry. _What a shock_, he thought wryly.

The iris whirred open, a metallic hiss and a thud as it locked into place around the outside of the gate.

SG-1 leapt through the gate, blue energy bolts whizzing past them. The iris whirred shut again behind them. Two dull thuds followed.

_Looks like they haven't realised not to follow us yet_, thought Landry.

SG-1 were already in the de-briefing room when he entered it.

"Didn't quite go as planned, hey?" he observed, then, before anyone could answer he continued, "So, who gets the job of cleaning off the back of the iris?"

"Well sir," said Carter "The iris is so close to the event horizon of the gate that it doesn't even allow matter to re-integrate."

Landry gave her a Look, and she shook her head slightly. "Oh. Sorry sir…"

"But, no sir, it didn't quite go as planned," said Mitchell. "The Ori noticed us almost straight away, and started attacking us."

The alarm started up again suddenly.

"General Landry to the gate room," came Walter's voice over the PA system.

"Here we go again," he muttered and hurried out to the gate room, followed closely by SG-1.

"Unauthorised wormhole," blared Walter's voice.

The gate formed again, the event horizon smashing against the now closed iris

"Reading Tok'ra IDC sir," said Walter "opening the iris now…"

"Go ahead," said Landry as Walter's hand hovered over the controls and then opened the iris. As two Tok'ra stepped through the gate, SG-1 were already nearly in the gate-room to meet them.

* * *

Anise sat near the far end of the table in the briefing room.

"So wait a moment," said Mitchell. "You're the same Tok'ra who gave SG-1 those bracelet thingies six years ago, right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"That was such a cool mission report…"

"But I suppose you're not here to reminisce about days gone past?" asked Landry.

"No, General Landry," she replied in a cold voice. "I have been sent to deliver information about the activities of the Ori in this galaxy."

"Such as?"

"The location of the planets on which the Ori are constructing new warships."

"Did you say _new _warships?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, Doctor Jackson." She paused and looked around the room. "Ever since the Tau'ri disabled the Supergate, the Ori have been constructing new warships in this galaxy." She held up a small disk-like card. "This contains the location of all of those that we know of."

"And you're telling us this why?" asked Landry suspiciously. "Not that I don't appreciate what you're offering us but… well… the Tok'ra haven't been all that open with this kind of information in the past, you know."

Anise held up a hand, cutting him off. "My answer is simple, General Landry. We want you to destroy them."


	3. So What's the Catch?

**So, What's the Catch?**

* * *

Vala laughed. "What?" she asked incredulously, "I don't know if you've noticed but currently in ship to ship battles the score runs Ori – 2, Earth ships – none… you have noticed that, right?"

Anise nodded her head slightly. "Yes, we have seen that – no-one else is faring too well either – but these ships will be on the ground without shields. Nothing will be protecting them…"

"So why don't you blow them up?" asked Mitchell. "If it's so easy there's gotta be a catch."

"The Tok'ra do not have sufficient ships or resources to carry out such a procedure," she replied. "We operate mainly through subterfuge stealth and sabotage," (Sounds like something from PE thought Mitchell – the three Ss) "and have not even any ships larger than a cargo ship."

"No catch, hey?" Mitchell had heard O'Neill talk about the Tok'ra – there was always a catch. It could remain hidden until near the end of the mission, and then it would pop up its ugly head.

"I assure you Colonel Mitchell," she replied seriously "there is no 'catch' as you put it."

The ship Earth ship Odyssey throbbed its way towards the distant goal, P4J-354. The planet had been first on the list the Tok'ra had supplied for them – apparently the Ori warship was unguarded and still on the ground – there would theoretically be very little difficulty in destroying the ship from orbit.

Mitchell looked out the window into the streaming blue funnel of hyperspace, subspace or whatever…

"So how much longer till we get there?" he asked.

"Still a couple of hours, Cam," answered Carter "you know, around ten minutes later than when you last asked."

He glared out the window. Being cooped up like this always made him want to break something… "Have I mentioned how much I hate travelling like this?" he asked a little grumpily "That's why those smart Ancients invented the stargate… to save themselves dying of old age."

"Actually that's why they invented the stasis pod," said Vala, dancing into the room.

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean…"

"Well," he said "tell me when we get there … I'm just gonna go get a bit of rest…" He walked out of the room.

Odyssey dropped out of hyperspace behind one of the planet's two moons. To save attracting attention they planned to launch a cloaked cargo ship to assess the situation from low orbit above the planet. Teal'c piloted the small ship as they left the Odyssey's left docking bay. The ship vanished almost instantly from the Odyssey's scanners. Daniel blinked in the strong light as they left the shadow of the moon. It would be night on the planet now, with the sun burning against the background of the moon.

"Ok, Teal'c," said Carter. "We should be close enough to scan the planet's surface."

"Scanning now…"

"Oh, hang on," interrupted Carter, "that's the ship – what's this around it?" She looked out the front of the ship and then back down at the console. "Can you scan just this area here?"

"Indeed," said Teal'c. The results of the scan appeared once again on a small screen to the left of the main console. That can't be right, she thought. She breathed in deeply. "Ok, everyone, we could have a bit of a problem."

"Have we got our first catch already?" asked Mitchell, not sounding particularly surprised.

"Well," she said "The ship's being protected by a force field, which seems to be being emitted from very nearby."

"Can we blow a hole through it?" asked Mitchell.

"Look, Cam, remember our luck so far with Ori shields?"

"So, no is the answer…" He paused, thinking for a second. "So, you're telling me we're gonna have to go down there to blow it up?"

"Yes, if we want to blow it up. I can't see how else we're going to pull it off."

Vala grinned. "Sounds like fun."

Daniel shook his head. "If she likes it it's a really bad idea, you know that, right?"

The others looked at him. "Indeed," said Teal'c.

The cargo ship landed invisible to all, but for a whisper in the wind and the slight whir of the engines. All seemed to remain oblivious to the new imprint of the shadow of a ship upon this world. All but one. She turned quickly towards the source, surprised at this new fragment of a thought. She concentrated on the source of this breach of her mental boundaries. Mother… she thought. You are here…

"Adria?!" shouted Vala.

"What?" asked Daniel. "What's up now?"

"What?" asked Vala.

"Well, you just said… 'Adria'."

"Really?" She asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Yes"

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know – you just said it…"

"Ok, you two," said Mitchell. "We're here, so can you two stop bickering (We weren't bickering said Daniel) and get on with this?" They both glared at him as he stood up, grabbed his P-90 from a storage shelf and strode over to the door of the ship. "Ok, we're ready to do this?" he asked everyone.

"Yes, Cam, we're ready to go."

"The plan is to…" said Mitchell.

"… make it up as we go, right?" said Daniel.

Mitchell grinned at him, almost beaming. "Yep, that's right" he said. "Best plan, never fails, because nothing's planned." If you make up a plan, he thought, you think about what could go wrong, and so naturally, it will.

The side hatch whirred open. A slight gust whistled in, carrying the smell of smoke, and night air. Ori landing ships could be seen outside the tree line, and a mobile ringing platform had been moved into place. Oh, what fun, he thought, and, as quietly and as quickly as he could moved out of the ship and undercover.


	4. Two's a Party, Three's a Crowd

**Two's a Party, Three's a Crowd**

* * *

The Ancient genetics lab had been one of the last discoveries in his new city. Alterus had surrendered it's secrets unwillingly, but with the sheer, unsleeping, unresting manpower he had brought to bear on it, and the three Z-PMs that the city had already had had allowed him to restore nearly all systems almost instantly after his capture of the city. And the Tau'ri had believed this place destroyed. It helped that he'd completely de-activated the stargate, but he'd been a little worried that the explosion above the city would not fool them. It had been a large, naquada bomb on board a cloaked cargo ship, and really hadn't been that realistic. Further proof of human incompetence. Now, this was his base of operations. Not having a stargate was a drawback, but for now, a necessary one. It hadn't really been explosive of course. Well, there was a chance it could have exploded, but it had, perhaps, and now, definitely, been a necessary risk.

The Baal flexed his fingers in a very self satisfied manner. The other Baals in the room looked on, nearly all of them were there. He reached out, both with his hand, and his mind and picked up a Baal at the other end of the room. The other Baals smiled, except for the one hanging in mid air that was. The captured Priors had provided the necessary genetic code to transform the Baals to the mental level of the Priors. Their staffs had been picked apart, and finally compacted to something a little more practical, and a little less flashy - and perhaps a little more familiar. The hand device was very similar in appearance to those the Goa'ld used to use, but now focussed the power of the wielder's mind. He hadn't been sure the genetic manipulation was going to work at first. The device was originally designed to force the user to the point of ascension, but that would kill anyone who didn't ascend. This newer, less potent programming would allow them to become as powerful as the Priors, but develop no further. The other option had been to take Priors as hosts, but no-one had like the sound of that (can you imagine looking like that?) and so one of them had found this lab and realised it could be used to manipulate the genes to any level. And now we can fly the ships, he thought, and we have achieved our goal and finally obtained advanced hosts. The Baals had finally agreed that one of them would try the device first. They'd taken a sort of lottery on who would get to try it first, and then the abilities would be tested. And then, the rest would be given the same treatment. He'd won. Their first target would be a practically undefended Ori world with an almost completely finished Ori warship. The planet had been his so many years ago, and once again it would fall to him. "Well I think it worked." He said to himself. The other Baal dropped to the ground, with a dull thud.

"You fool! Shouted the other Baal angrily. "Broken ankle I think," while the other Baals looked very concerned. If sitting on their chairs trying not to grin counted as looking concerned.

"Oh, sorry" said the other Baal unconvincingly. He raised his hand almost lazily. The jewel on his hand glowed red, and the other Baal stood up, the pain gone, angry, but otherwise in perfect health. He looked at his ankle, raised his eyebrows and then returned to the ranks of the Baals, trying to blend in.

"Alright then" said the advanced Baal. "Who's next?" The rest rushed to the lottery table.

* * *

Mitchell peered over the top of the fallen log. He was looking at a small, new looking building, nestled in a hollow, obviously of Ori design. He turned to Carter, who had just pulled herself up next to him, and waited a second before asking: "So that's our target, right?"

"That's right" she answered. She turned her face away, looking down at the building again. "Looks simple enough. All we need to do is sneak down there and plant a little C-4, then Odyssey should be able to blast the warship apart."

"So, no chance of stealing it?" asked Mitchell hopefully.

"No Cam, no chance. Remember what happened last time we tried to steal an Ori warship?"

He sighed dramatically. "Absolutely nothing" he answered. "OK, people, quiet, follow, keep under cover, etc etc." before he moved off though, he turned to Carter again. "So, why can't we use Sodan cloaks? Oh, yeah," he answered himself "Mutating bugs… that's right"

He took a path down through a group of trees, and was able to stay under cover until he'd almost reached the building itself. Two Ori guards stood at the door to the almost bunker like complex, their staff weapons held upright, balanced upright on the ground. They stood back from the door as it hissed open, and a prior exited. Mitchell recognised him. It was one of the Priors with more distorted features His left eye was scrunched up into his face, and a large scar across it. A bit orc like actually. The prior looked around the clearing and looked like a dog that had picked up the scent of a rabbit. Mitchell watched him carefully, waiting for trouble. However, he turned away, apparently satisfied that there was nothing there, and walked off in the general direction of the Ori warship.

"So, two guards, taken out quietly" said Mitchell. "Any ideas anyone?" he turned around, to the others. He made a sound that was a cross between a long suffering sigh and a growl. "Where's Vala?" he asked. No-one else had noticed that she wasn't there either, until he mentioned it. They all looked at Daniel. "What?" he asked. "She was here a minute ago, she was whining about something…"

They heard two thumps from down below. They looked out of the scrub. The sounds had come from out the front of the building. Vala could now been seen standing in front of it, the two guards lying on the ground next to her. Still looking around, waiting for guards to arrive the rest of SG-1 quickly moved down the last bit of slope towards the shield generator. "What the hell are you doing?" hissed Mitchell.

She looked up and answered "taking out our guard problem." She waved her arm at the guards lying on the ground and Mitchell noticed a large bracelet like thing gleaming on her wrist.

"Alright, it worked" admitted Mitchell rather grudgingly. "But how did you get down here so quickly? And what's that on you're wrist?"

"Well," Vala said, "When Anise offered it to me I just couldn't resist…

Mitchell looked at it carefully while Vala fingered it, waiting to see how they'd react.

"Is that a…"

"Yep" said Daniel. "That's one of those wrist devices Anise gave us last time"

"Take it off now…" muttered Mitchell to her.

"I…"

"She won't be able to" said Carter. "When we put them on they just wouldn't come off… Until they dropped off that is…"

"So there's no getting the thing off… Look guys didn't these things seriously effect your judgement last time? And that was you bunch… Her judgement" he said, waving a hand at Vala "is seriously affected at the best of times."

"Oh, come on" said Vala, sounding exasperated. "We're here, so let's drop the C-4 and go."

Mitchell glared at her angrily. No-one ever listened to him, or even pretended to follow his orders. It could get a little annoying, but that was what leading SG-1 seemed to be all about – being dragged around. "Alright, alright…" he muttered.

Carter opened the door and stepped in. The room lit up in reddish yellow light, revealing rows of consoles, and a large rather bulbous looking device in the centre of the room. She walked directly over too it. "Just a second" she said "Just got to set this up…" She carefully rigged up the explosives to the detonator. "Ok, all set…"

"Lets go" said Mitchell.

"Indeed" said Tea'lc.

At that moment the door hissed open. The Prior stood in the doorway, surrounded by a group of Warriors of the Ori. There weapons were aimed at SG-1.

"Hi, Gothmog" said Mitchell. Now that Mitchell saw him close up he looked even more like the orc.

"I am a Prior of the Ori. Who is this Gothmog you refer to?"

"You know, big ugly orc. Nearly got a wall dropped on his head by a Trebuchet."

The Prior shook his head as though throwing aside an irritation. "You will surrender to us… or die."

"Now, there's that line again…" said Mitchell.

"Now." The Prior's staff gem glowed slightly, and their weapons were all thrown to the ground. "The Orici has been expecting you… for some time now."

Mitchell's radio crackled. "What's going on down there, Colonel? Two Ori warships just showed up in orbit… Hang on, what are they doing…"

Mitchell's radio crumpled, with another glow from the Priors staff.

"That would be the reinforcements." He said almost sounding like he was gloating. "The Orici detected your pitiful ship in orbit and has dispatched warships to destroy it. Come" he ordered. The Ori warriors moved in behind them, and escorted them out of the building, and towards the Ori warship. There was a slight whistling sound behind them, and a bright yellow beam of energy shot from the sky, obliterating the shield generator in a blinding flash of light. In the confusion Mitchell grabbed a staff from one of the Ori warriors and cracked him on the head with it. And instantly the others had regained their balance and had their weapons pointed at him. Then, there was a whooshing noise, and the warriors were flat on their backs, their weapons thrown around them. The Prior looked around, trying to locate Vala. She located him, when with another whoosh, she brought a stone down on the back of his head. "Pretty impressive, hey?" she said triumphantly.

* * *

On board Adria watched in growing anger. The ships had arrived… and then blown up the shield generator, completely ignoring the Earth ship. She was trying to establish communications with them now. When the screen to screen communication system cleared up she realised that she was not talking to the prior she had expected. She was not even talking to a prior. A Baal was tapping the screen in front of him, with a grin on his face. "Hello my dear." He said condescendingly. "You weren't expecting me, were you?" He turned away, to look out the forward view screen, taking in the sight of his second warships, and the planet, seemingly so small, so far below. "And it looks like those pesky humans are here too," he continued. "Well, you know what they say… Two's a party, Three's a crowd." He leaned forward, towards the communications screen. He grinned and then continued "Soon we'll be partying again."


	5. Time to Party

**Time to Party**

* * *

The Ori warships moved into attack positions, both targeting the still grounded warship. The Baals performed their tasks perfectly, knowing exactly what they had to do, working in complete unison. It helped that since their genetic advancement they had found no need for words. Wether or not the Priors shared this same conscious mental bond Baal didn't know. Perhaps it was amplified as they were all the same person. From behind their Asgard shields the crew of the Odyssey watched in surprise, as rather than blasting them from space the two Ori warships fired first one shot at the planet, destroying the shields and were now moving to gain the best possible position against the defenceless ship upon the ground.

* * *

The Baal commander of the first ship continued to speak: "Surrender your ship to me – I do believe it is almost complete – and I will graciously allow you to survive." He said this in a tone that was a cross between sarcasm and slightly mocking humour.

"I would never surrender this ship to you… Baal" she spat out angrily "one of those who forced those of this disillusioned galaxy to worship him... a disgusting parasite…"

"Oh, I'm flattered" he said. "You've heard of me… Well, in that case pray to the Ori to rescue you from the Baals…" He took a look at the expression of outrage on Adria's face and then mentally shut down communications with the ship on the ground, chuckling to himself. "Land the troops" he shouted to the Baal behind him. On the far underside of large light grey ship a small space bay door opened, and one by one five conical pods were launched, and sped into the atmosphere.

SG-1 looked around as a boom echoed across the surface of the planet. Then another. "What is that?" asked Daniel warily; looking up from where he was, picking up the Prior's staff, and checking he was really out. He was, a massive cross between a chasm and a golf ball on the back of his head. "Nice one, by the way" he said to Vala, quickly looking back over at her.

"Thanks" she answered, looking very pleased with herself.

Carter listened as the sound echoed out across the planet again.

"I'm not sure…" said Carter, also looking up. "but…"

"it sounded like a sonic boom" said Mitchell, finishing off for her.

"Yes, something coming in through the atmosphere." She pointed "That, I guess."

A small glowing fireball had appeared in the sky, and was soon joined by another one, two, four. The five glowing dots gradually grew bigger, shooting down towards their heads.

"What are those?" asked Tea'lc, looming over the rest of them, holding the staff weapon of one of the fallen warriors of Origen.

"More importantly…" muttered Vala "…Where are those going to hit?" she asked out loud, fingering her bracelet nervously, as the fireballs quickly grew bigger.

Mitchell frowned, and realising that running would not really increase their chances of survival shouted "Down!" and threw himself into the lowest ditch he could see – Not much, but better than nothing in a large falling metal object shower. As always even before the words had left his mouth everyone was down – Even Vala, who recognised that even her armband would not protect her from massive chunks of metal object.

Looking up towards the light blue sky from their positions across the ground they could now clearly see the outlines of the smooth, now red hot conical pods, their super resistant casing shedding the heat, and even now the flames were vanishing from them…

Seconds later Mitchell felt the shock of the first pod impacting the soft ground of Acronis and then the second before he even heard the sound of the first. And then the sound hit. A whistling crash that rose to the roar of an explosion in an ear shattering crescendo, followed by the second. Seemingly years later, his ears aching with the echoes of the explosions he raised his head, as the last crashing roar ended. Around him scattered within even just hundreds of metres of the looming Ori warship sat these conical devices.

Mitchell pulled a small pair of binoculars from one of his pockets and raised them to his eyes. As he watched the one nearest to them small shadow like cracks widened in its gleaming conical upper side. Then quickly three triangular flaps folded open and spread out across the ground. And then the rings activated. In a glaring flash of white light the rings appeared out of the ring pad and when the receded back four Kull warriors stood there, and a human who looked amazingly like Baal. Mitchell groaned, and handed the binoculars to Carter who was looking out. Everyone could see they were rings, but she too was supprised – not very surprised, though – to see Baal.

"Baal…" muttered Mitchell "With two Ori warships?"

Carter shook her head and asked quietly "How did he get hold of those? I guess I'm not really supprised…"

Vala had out a massive pair of binoculars which she had pulled out of her pack. She grinned to herself, a positively marvellous idea occurring to her. Mitchell turned to her to ask how the hell she carried all this stuff around. There was a blur, and she was gone. Mitchell gritted his teeth and asked "What's she think she's doing?" He groaned, as Teal'c pointed down towards the nearest ring platform and said "Colonel Mitchell. There she is." Vala's shape could just be made out crouched behind a bunch of trees around a mere fifty metres away from the platform. The ring platform activated again, in another flash of light, and yet five more Kull warriors appeared on the platform.

The Baal on the ground nearest SG-1 sensed something moving nearby him, a human presence. Unlike the totally arrogant priors he did not disregard the presence, and ordered the Kull warriors to form a ring around him and the teleport pad. The Kull warriors had been fitted with devices which allowed the Baals to command them mentally, and far more efficiently than ever before. It moved suddenly, incredibly fast, and headed straight towards him. A log suddenly flung through the air and knocked two of the warriors from their feet. A very large log. He raised his hand, and the reddish gem on his hand glowed, and he flicked the long aside from its collision course with him. Behind him. He spun around and raised his hand. Vala slammed into a mental wall, at super human speed and was flung backwards, and then raised into the air. Baal grinned. "Katesh! He shouted. "Or is it Vala? Vala Maldaran…" he said thoughtfully. He pulled her in towards him, on noticing the device on her wrist. "What's this?" he muttered to himself. He placed her on the ring platform, and let the Baal shifting down the Kull warriors know that he was sending up a Vala Maldaran with a strange device on her wrist, which seemingly allowed her to move super fast, and to be super strong... And it had been delivered straight to him. He smiled to himself. In fact, he'd heard of such a device before… But weren't they useless to the Goa'uld for some reason? Anyway, another group of 5 Kull warriors arrived, and the motionless body of Vala Maldaran was ringed up to the Ori warship waiting above.

SG-1 watched, helplessly as Vala was ringed up to the waiting ship.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Mitchell angrily "What'd she do that for anyway…" he asked, "Even she's normally not that stupid…"

"Well Cam, one of the side effects of the wrist devices is recklessness…"

"…beating up people in pub brawls…" continued Daniel.

Mitchell raised his eyebrows. "That wasn't in the mission report…"

Daniel glanced sideways at Carter "Not in the official version anyway… Everyone decided not to mention it afterwards… That kind of thing's bad for the reputation you know…"

Mitchell guessed that by everyone he meant Hammond and was wondering again what they were going to do when he spotted an old Jaffa running towards them. Bra'tac? he thought. Teal'c also turned, spotting his old tutor and friend, a look of great surprise spreading across his generally impassive face. At that moment they were engulfed in a buzz of bluish light and beamed up onto the Odyssey.


	6. The Greater Powers

_A/N: Hi, this is MalagBaal's sister (Jenwryn) uploading this on his behalf. A bit unconventional, yes, but at the moment he's travelling up north, in the vicinity of Kununurra (go google it), and while he was able to send me an email with the chapters he wanted updating, he wasn't able to get on here to do it himself. And he told me I had to write this in the author's notes to explain why he isn't answering reviews at the moment. Cheers, enjoy his story, and comment!!  
_

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**The Greater Powers**

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Angrily Adria glared out of the bridge of her warship. She could see two parties of Kull warriors advancing towards the ship and knew another three rings had been landed elsewhere. She turned away from the scene laid out before her, realising that for some reason she could not touch those on the ground. She should have been able to crumple Ba'al's tin soldiers with her mind, but something was blocking her powers. She ran through the corridors of the ship, knowing that she had only one option to retain both control of her ship, and her life. No time for ceremony now…

She reached a window opening up onto the central circular hole in the ship where energy was generally generated – after the ships were activated. Warriors ran past her to guard the entrances as they had been commanded as she placed her hand on the wall of the ship – as close to the core as she could be. She focussed, and energy began to flow, somewhere in the ship's systems. There was a massive flash of blue light and the core activated. She smirked to herself. Look who's smiling now, Ba'al, she thought.

Ba'al sat forward on the control Chair in surprise. Far below, his sensors were detecting a sudden, massive surge of energy. The Ba'als on the ground confirmed. The Ori warship had activated seconds before, and was already beginning to take off. Only one of the Ba'als had even made it on board before the ship's shields had activated. He gritted his teeth. Adria was forcing him to do something he didn't want to do. He didn't want to damage his new Ori warship. But now was the time to open fire, while Adria's ship was in the atmosphere, still taking off. He and the Ba'als almost instantly came to an agreement (with the exception of the Ba'al onboard the ship) to break down the shields of Adria's ship before she exited the atmosphere.

Adria smiled, despite the bittersweet taste of her victory. Now, she thought Ba'al would have to destroy her. And then she heard the sound of battle, and felt a deadness in her mind. One of the Ba'als _had _made it on board. And with one of those unholy devices the people of this galaxy had been using to block the given powers of the Ori. A contingent of her warriors rushed passed her and she followed. Whispers but nothing more suddenly spreading among the guards that their victory was assured, as the Orici had joined them. They rounded the corner and were met by a barrage of Kull warrior fire. The front rank of her warriors went down, smoking holes in their armour and she quickly ordered them back. Motioning her warriors back behind her she extended the protection of her personal shield around them. A greenish glitter lit the air around them, and she motioned her warriors forward. She smiled grimly as they unhesitatingly strode forward into the passage, trusting _her _powers. Yet this was the only power she held, which was not _truly_ hers.

She stepped out behind her warriors, and saw that behind the enemy warriors at the other end of the passage lurked a Ba'al. Around his waist hung a small flashing device, which fitted a description that had been given to her of the devices which blocked her powers…

He stepped out slightly from behind his warriors… She wrenched a staff weapon from the hands of one of her surprised warriors, and snapped of a shot at the belt. With deadly accuracy, or amazing luck the bolt hit the device. Her knowledge inherited of the Ori also included traditional combat skills – to lead an army required after all not only great powers of your own, but knowledge of how your warriors fought… She felt a sudden surge of energy, like a great wet blanket had been lifted from over her mind… Now, she thought, _this battle _would be over in seconds…

Ba'al grunted in surprise as the blast caught him on the hip, and in a shower of sparks and with an acid smell the device at his waist burst into flames. _Damn, _he thought. _We have a problem now… _Around him, suddenly his warriors seemed to implode as the Orici (He'd thought he'd spotted her…) bent her will upon them. Then she turned his attention to him. She stepped forwards from among her warriors, more of which had just arrived on both sides of him, both from up the passage and behind him… He felt her power, poised to lift him off the ground by his throat, and then he pushed against it. He felt her surprise and felt a surge of amusement.

"The Ba'als have grown in power, as you can see, oh Majestic Orici," he said sarcastically, bowing slightly. Then, without warning he raised his hand, and the red jewel upon it glowed brightly, as he released a wave of raw, brutal energy against her. She withstood it with ease, as if leaning into a strong breeze, but the warriors with her were not so gifted, and were slammed violently into the far wall.

Angrily, she raised her own hand. Orange red, refined power snaked out towards the Ba'al, who raised up a shield against it, which glowed red against it. But it was failing. Ba'al pushed back, and then grew weaker against her great power. Here was the end for him. Defiantly, his eyes glowed and he growled out to her, threateningly in the deep voice of the Goa'uld "You will defeat me, Orici, but there are many of us… _we _will defeat you – we will win the war – at all costs…" His voice faded away, and he was suddenly engulfed in roaring red flame. Ash floated to the ground where he had stood, in a small dark pile.

"Clean this up," said Adria to a group of the men who had survived. Then she hurried away. Ba'als with the power of a prior… how could this have happened? And they had two of her ships… The control chair sat unoccupied, and the Warship was long since airborne. She had already felt one blast from a Ba'al controlled ship crash against her shields – as she sat down and viewed the situation she felt another two. She eased the ship upwards, its shields weaker in the atmosphere then in space… For now, all she had to do was escape into hyperspace – soon a fleet of some five ships more would be finished, and she would be able to face Ba'al and his war against her. If her ship was not destroyed first.

The Ba'als all felt the loss of their fellow clone. The Ba'al in control of the first Ori warship glared down at the Ori warship knifing up out of the atmosphere below him and fired again, the great yellow beam splaying out across the shields of the other ship. Another Ba'al confirmed it – the shields were about to drop.


End file.
